Whether you embrace New Year’s resolutions or you shun away from them and call them goals, you have to admit, there’s just something about a new year. January 1st feels so fresh, so new, so squeaky clean and so full of possibilities. We’re sharing a few different ways to set goals. Choose the one that’s best for you, because if you want to see success, you’ll need to do this YOUR way. Here are some goal setting methods that have worked for us in the past:

SMART goals

What does SMART stand for? Here’s a refresher: specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time bound. The point of making SMART goals is that they’re exactly spelled out. You either hit the goals or you don’t, and they ensure that you’re setting them in a way that can be achieved.

Fitness events

This was definitely one of our goal setting methods in 2013. Last year Katie did the Ride to Conquer Cancer and Morgan did Warrior Dash. We’re both signed up for Warrior Dash 2014 and are eyeing other races too. Having a date to work towards and knowing the skills you need to work on give your workouts and training an extra focus.

Bucket Lists

Make a list of things you’d like to try that are good for your health this year. For example, you might want to buy your first vegetarian cookbook. Maybe you’d like to join a running group, hire a personal trainer, figure out how to use your slow cooker, start taking vitamins, try your first yoga class, buy a bike, or go hiking. Whatever sounds exciting to you, write it down and cross off every item once you complete it. We recommend documenting it with pictures and tagging them #WildlyFit so we can cheer you on!

Theme words

Choose one word for this year and let it guide you for the next 365 days. Every morning before you get out of bed keep your eyes closed and recite a mantra that includes your theme word or just repeat the word five to ten times. When you feel off track in your day take some quiet time and breathe while thinking through your actions in relation to your guiding word.

Inspiration / Vision boards

Not so into the lists? No problem, you creative creature you. Get some magazines and scissors and start visually representing what you want for yourself this year. Or try a Pinterest board. (If you don’t want to share your Pinterest board with all of your followers check out the instructions on how to make a secret board).

Pie Charts

Oops! How did this photo get in here? Pie chart, not pecan pie. Mmmmmmm pie.

The pie chart method of goals is not as popular or well known but, we promise it will get you thinking about priorities. You’ll need to draw two pie charts. The first pie chart will represent how much time you’re currently spending on certain activities and the second pie chart will represent how you’d like to spend your time. Use a week at a glance and think about the average amount of time you spend doing things.

For example, if you are currently sleeping 6 hours a night you would fill in 1/4 of the pie chart with “sleep”. But if you’d like to spend more time sleeping you can increase that area on your “how I want to spend my time” chart. Activities that you’ll want to think of:

work / school

family

social

alone time

self development

sleep

exercise

meditation

watching tv / internet surfing

commuting

Remember, everyone has the exact same 24 hours in a day. Let’s make 2014 the year we spend time on the things that best serve our spirit. Everyone has different priorities, write down what matters to you. Don’t feel guilty, and work everyday on devoting time to what is important.

What kind of dreams are you dreaming for this coming year?

Setting a health and fitness goal or resolution this year? We are so excited to announce our START WILD January Health and Fitness Program. The program will be released on January 1st and we’ll all start together on Monday January 6th.

I love these ideas for setting goals and making resolutions. I really love the pie chart idea and not just because I love pie. I definitely struggle with allocating time, etc. PS I LOVE your new look!!